Down where land met water, away from anyone else, lived a lonely river spirit. She was all alone. No fish in her water, no birds swimming about, not even a crayfish. The only company she had was that of the trees in the nearby forest, but those only served to block out the sun. She didn’t like it when she couldn’t see the sun. The only thing about herself she found enjoyable was the way the sun’s rays would bounce off her surface coating the area around her with light. For a moment, it would make her feel beautiful. 

She rarely felt beautiful. She was plain, and flat, the only beauty she could possess was a product of someone else’s doing. She had no sprawling branches like the trees, neither the soft fur of the fox nor the striped backs of the chipmunks. And she certainly didn’t have a face like the humans. The humans had beauty, unlike anything she had ever seen. They were so different from her, so different from each other even, yet she could never hope to live up to their majesty. Sometimes, when a human ventured too far from the path and found themselves at her edge, she liked to show their image as her own. For a moment, if only a moment, it made her feel same. Like she wasn’t a lonely river spirit, but a beautiful human who could run about and do as they please, and one whom all the other humans would find pleasant. But no, she’s not a human. She doesn’t have a beautiful face, and the humans don’t find her pleasant. She wouldn’t be alone if they did.

One day, once again, a human wandered upon her shore. She gazed upon their skin, at their face, and into their wondrous eyes. Their eyes looked like the tree’s bark, how wonderful. They stepped closer to her, before stepping into her water. They gazed down at the river spirit’s mimic of their visage. They seem to enjoy it. The river spirit enjoyed it too. She enjoyed it a lot. Before she realized what she was doing, the river spirit had thrust such a current that the human could no longer stand. Their beautiful face went below the water’s surface and never came back up. It’s only fair that the river spirit could have a beautiful face of her own. Sharing is caring, after all.